North Carolina's Smart Start and More at Four (MAF) early childhood programs were evaluated through the end of elementary school (age 11) by estimating the impact of state funding allocations to programs in each of 100 counties across 13 consecutive years on outcomes for all children in each county-year group (n = 1,004,571; 49% female; 61%…

This study extends previous research investigating the effects of state-wide exit exams by studying the change from a class-based to a state-wide exit exam system over 5 years, using multilevel analyses and examining mediating effects of teachers' practices on students' motivational orientations. In this multi-cohort study, we analyzed in…

Items on test score scales located at and below the Proficient cut score define the content area knowledge and skills required to achieve proficiency. Alternately, examinees who perform at the Proficient level on a test can be expected to be able to demonstrate that they have mastered most of the knowledge and skills represented by the items at…

Presents a procedure for standard setting that involves the cluster analysis of test takers to discover examinee groups that are useful for envisioning marginally competent performance or defining borderline or contrasting groups. Illustrates use of the procedure with a statewide mathematics test, and concludes that cluster analysis is useful in…

Portfolios are the centerpiece of Vermont's statewide assessment program in mathematics. Portfolio scores in the first two years were not reliable enough to permit the reporting of student-level results, but increasing the number of readers or the number of portfolio pieces is not operationally feasible. (SLD)

The adequacy of linking statewide standardized test results to the National Assessment of Educational Progress by using equipercentile equating procedures was investigated using statewide mathematics data from four states. Results suggest that the linkings are not sufficiently trustworthy to make comparisons based on the tails of the distribution.…

Students in New Hampshire will not be alone when they will take their new state mathematics and reading tests. Their fellow students in Rhode Island and Vermont will be taking the same exams along with them. This article reports that New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont have joined forces to create reading and math tests in grades 3-8. They…

Results from the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program for 5,392 elementary school students and from the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (multiple choice) for a national sample are used to explore local item independence (LID) of test items. Some strategies are suggested for measuring LID in performance assessments. (SLD)

Studied gender differences in answers to constructed-response mathematics items on approximately 500 papers from grades 7 and 10 from the Kansas Assessment Program. Rubric-relevant variables were highly predictive of holistic scores and accounted for some of the gender differences, especially in grade 7. (SLD)

Two studies investigated the performance of Florida high school seniors on the Tests of General Educational Development (GED Tests). The GED Test Battery, as revised in 1980, consists of 290 items in 5 subject areas (writing, social studies, science, reading, and mathematics). In the first study, the performance of 1,200 Florida students was…